Windows: Show all System Tray icons

September 7, 2010

By default, Windows XP and Vista (at least) want to hide some of your System Tray icons (these are the little icons in the bottom far right of your taskbar). You can tell that some are hidden by the little arrow to the left of the icons.

But you might not want that — you might want to see them all displayed all the time. So, how do you turn off this feature annoyance? Easy! (Note: The steps below work similarly in Windows XP and Vista)

Right-click anywhere in a blank area of the taskbar.

Select Properties.

Clear the Hide inactive icons check box on the Taskbar tab (Windows XP) or the Notification Area tab (Vista).